1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of controlling a position and attitude of a manipulator which is mounted on a moving body and conducts various operations and an apparatus thereof. More particularly, it relates to a working robot consisted of the moving body and the manipulator.
2. Description of the Related Art
In order to realize improvement of productivity and securing safety in a factory, various working robots such as a traveling robot and the like, in which an articulated manipulator is mounted on a truck which is a moving body traveling autonomously is in practical use. Such a traveling robot is so designed that it travels autonomously to a working destination and stops by controlling traveling of the truck, and thereafter, the position and attitude of the manipulator are controlled so as to conduct predetermined works.
In the traveling robot, conventionally it was difficult to take traveling information of the truck into the position and attitude control of the manipulator, so that the traveling control of the truck and position and attitude control of the manipulator were executed separately. Specifically, for example, stop positions of the truck are determined in advance responsive to the working positions, and position and attitude control information of the manipulator in a working space restricted by the truck stop position are decided in advance. Thus, when the truck stops at either of the stop positions, the position and attitude of the manipulator are controlled in response to the position and attitude control information restricted by the stop position to execute the predetermined work.
In the conventional traveling robot as aforementioned, however, since the traveling control of the truck and the position and attitude control of the manipulator are executed separately as stated above, it is impossible to control the manipulator to assume an attitude in preparation for the next work while the truck travels. However, information on position and orientation of the truck while traveling are never taken into the position and attitude control of the manipulator. Therefore, in a case where complicated work is to be carried out actually in the working position, after the truck is stopped at the predetermined stop position, the position and attitude of the manipulator are controlled responsive to the stop position to execute the predetermined work. Thus, it is actually impossible to work the manipulator while the truck is traveling, resulting in low working efficiency.